When will the production claims of OEMs digital printers reflect the true capability of saleable output speeds?
A. Digital printer’s de-skills print production allowing many competitors to enter the market. In this crowded market place, OEMs look to gain sales by advertising the jetting capability of their products. These high end speeds often relate to the printers ability to physically move media through the printer whilst jetting but do not reflect the (downtime) taken for set up, cleaning, ripping, start up etc. Output quality is also a key factor. It is therefore very important that customers evaluate printers comparing there own files; materials etc and establish the true downtime that they will experience in the day to day use of the printer. As a guide: Print Speed – also called headline speed refers to the fastest print mode of the press Production speed – Production speed refers to the “real” print speed that is achieved in actual production. It is a measure of the print mode of the equipment that will deliver the necessary quality that is commercially acceptable for that application.
